The present invention relates to oral care products, and more particularly to oral care layers, which can be used with oral care devices, and related methods of manufacture and use.
In the oral care industry, there are a variety of products designed to contact the teeth of a user to provide a desired effect. One example is a tooth whitening product in the form of a strip. The strip includes a whitening agent. To secure the strip to the teeth, an adhesive is joined with the strip in the form of a separate layer. To provide the desired whitening effect on the teeth, separate layers or regions of a whitening agent, such as hydrogen peroxide, are joined with the strip. Frequently, however, the adhesive and the whitening agent can be difficult to mix, can react with one another undesirably, or cannot provide the desired structural integrity.
In the cosmetic and medical fields, a certain type of composition, known as a hydrogel, can be used to contain and release active ingredients, absorb or release large amounts of water, and mimic biological tissues. These hydrogels generally are solutions or dispersions of water-soluble polymers within water, which yield a viscous or solid composition having a high water content.
Conventionally, hydrogels are manufactured by dispersing or dissolving polymers in water. Because the polymers are difficult to dissolve, large amounts of water are required. As a result, the water generally comprises more than 90% of finished gel composition. Frequently, it is desirable to have gels with a lower water content. Conventional techniques to achieve this lower water content include evaporation of the water or removal of a co-solvent, which yield the lower water content hydrogel. The issue with these techniques is that they still originate from a high solvent gel. Thus, extra time and resources are required to create the end product hydrogel.